A centrifugal type ball projecting device

ABSTRACT

A ball throwing machine has a mounting base with a lever pivotally mounted on the base. A plurality of spaced ball holding depressions are mounted on the top rear missle portion of said lever. A braking surface is mounted on said base and an adjustable brake shoe is mounted on the missile receiving end of said lever. The positioning of a ball in a desired depression and varying of the amount of braking causes a variation in the trajectory of a ball. The lever is adapted to be pivoted quickly to catapult a ball mounted in one of the depressions.

Hess

[451 Oct. 16, 1973 CENTRIFUGAL TYPE BALL PROJECTING DEVICE PrimaryExaminer-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-William R. Browne ABSTRACTA ball throwing machine has a mounting base with a lever pivotallymounted on the base. A plurality of spaced ball holding depressions aremounted on the top rear missle portion of said lever. A braking surfaceis mounted on said base and an adjustable brake shoe is mounted on themissile receiving end of said lever. The positioning of a ball in adesired depression and varying of the amount of braking causes avariation in the trajectory of a ball. The lever is adapted to bepivoted quickly to catapult a ball mounted in one of th depressions.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures [76] Inventor: Alexander McD. Hess, 67Hilton Ave., Garden City, NY. 11530 James [22] Filed: Nov. 26, 1971 [21]Appl. No.: 202,155

[52] US. Cl. 124/4, 124/41, 124/30 R [51] Int. Cl. F4lb 3/04 [58] Fieldof Search 124/6, 7, 8, 41, 124/4; 223/26 R, 26 B, 29 A [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,912,360 6/1933 Blanchard 124/7 2,080,9585/1937 Beasley et a]... 124/7 3,517,656 6/1970 Darrell 124/7 2,432,446l2/l947 Rutherford et al. 124/8 16 l p, 2 12 15 7 6 5 1 I 7 'IIII'IIIIaA r b gin/ 1x I u 4 c 6 PATENTEDBBT 16 I978 '0 R: L9 INVENTOR.

ALEXAN DER McQH ESS A CENTRIFUGAL TYPE BALL PROJECTING DEVICE Thisinvention relates to ball throwing or projecting apparatus.

More particularly the invention relates to means for projecting abaseball or similar ball on various trajectories and at various speeds.The machine is adapted to throw the ball along the ground or on a lineor in a high area.

By proper adjustment of the apparatus the thrown ball may be kept withina limited area, such as a playground, or a street and the possibility ofdamaging windows of surrounding houses is minimized. The device may beused manufacturing amusement as a game or it may be used to givepractice to fielders of ground balls, line drives and fly balls.

Without doubt, our greatest concern these days, is to keep ouryoungsters minds free from disturbances, but occupied in someinteresting outdoor competitive activity or pastime, especially duringnon-school hours-In crowded urban districts, playgrounds, school yardsor playstreets present confined areas. Outside of a scattering ofbasketball backboard hoops, the available equipment is more or lessinert layouts such as sliding, shinning and scaling pipe work, exceptfor an occasional see-saw.

Of all the games played perhaps the one most indulged in is baseball,keeping a few dozen or so youths active plus interested onlookers. Thisplaying holds the youngsters interest because it is competitive. Thesecontests lead to some inevitable property damages, due to uncontrolledbatted foul balls or slipping bats, to windows, property, parked cars,etc., and to onlookers or passerbys. Repairs are quite an item inmunicipal budgets.

I have devised a mechanism which practically eliminates damage, physicalor property, by controlling the flight of the ball within the laterallimits of the available area. The length of flight can be controlledalso.

When playing the regular baseball game, you may note many able battersand the more inept contestants interest wanes due to their inability toconnect with the ball. But with my device all the players are initiallyequated for everyone becomes a potential hitter, even the inept, who nowsees a ball hit by himself" and it satisfies his small ego. Of course,the bats approach and the touch or contact with actuating end of thelever and the positioning of the ball on the lever and aslo themechanism rotated direction in flight may be acquired in practice orparticipation.

My device involves a bar, lever or fulcrum mounted or placed on atrunnion or axle with a certain relationship with the point of impact orstriking end and the placing of the ball on the opposite or other end ofthe axle. No contact is made with the ball and it is everlasting, so noreal baseball is necessary. Any type ball may be used.

Accordingly a principal object of the invention is to provide new andimproved ball throwing means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved ballthrowing means to project balls at various trajectories including groundballs, line drives and fly balls.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved ballthrowing machine having a mounting base with a lever pivotally mountedon the base, a plurality of spaced ball holding depressions mounted onthe top lens, portion of said lever, a braking surface mounted on saidbase and an adjustable brake shoe mounted on the rear end of said lever,the lever being adpated to be rotated quickly to catapult a ball mountedin one of said depressions.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing specifications and drawings of which,

FIG. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention partially insection.

FIG. 1A is a detail view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a modification of the injection.

Referring to the drawings, a vertical post or shaft 21, make up thebottom of the superstructure containing the lever, trunnion and brakingarc. Said post nests into a supporting base sleeve 22, permitting thetop to turn (or to be turned) horizontally, said post is provided with aseries of holes 23, in vertical alignment, so as to afford heightadjustment, according to players size. When desired vertical position isattained, a rod orpin 24, is inserted, which rests on the top of thebase sleeve. Within the outcropping lengths of thispin or rod, an arc ofseveral holes 25, are located on the stationary base from about 5 upwardto 45 on each side of the center line. Two stopping pegs or screws 26,are similarly placed relative to the center line. When using same, foulballs are eliminated.

When playing on a regulation diamond, the stop pegs 26 should be set at45 on either sides of the center line of both field and mechanism. Said90 of movement should be reduced considerably when confined area mightbe play streets, etc., where houses flanking these streets must beprotected.

The member 1, connected to post 21, comprises a pair of channel members2 and 3 which support a horizontal axle 4 upon which a lever 5 ispivotally mounted. The lever 5 has a front resilient impact portion 5aand a rear ball holding portion 5b. The lever comprises a hollowcylindrical pipe which is pivotally mounted on the axle 4 which ismounted on members 2 and 3. The

lever pipe 5 has a pair of caps 5c and 5d. Inside the hollow pipe 5 ismounted a center shaft 6 which extends through the pipe and caps. Theshaft 6 has threads at one end. A sleeve member 8a is mounted on theshaft. The sleeve 8a contacts a collar 6a fixed to shaft 6, which isspring loaded outwardly from the center point by meansof the spring 7.Brake shoe 10 is adjustably mounted on the end of the shaft 6 by setscrew 10' which adjusts the brake pressure. Rotation of cap 5d adjuststhe spring pressure. Pin 10a keeps brakeshoe 10 from rotating. Knob 10bon the impact end of the lever is used in resetting the lever tostarting position.

The tension of the lever brake shoe spring should be so adjusted, thatthe lever comes to rest after prescribing 360. To achieve truehorizontal lever postion, compress the spring by pulling out front endstud mounted on the brake shoe center shaft, then releasing whenposition is attained.

A brake member 11 which is generally cylindrical and extending about 90of arc is mounted on the base member 1. The radius of the brakingsurface 11 is eccentric to the pivot point of the lever so that as thebrake shoe 10 rotates counter-clockwise it will encounter greaterbraking resistance as it proceeds. The upper end of braking surface 11is straight. The brake shoe has a flat surface in full contact with thebrake surface at its straight portion.

The zero horizontal position of the lever may be manually set byadjusting the brake shoe so that it contacts the braking surface lightlybut with sufficient force to hold it in position. The brake shoe 10 maybe adjusted to control the amount of rotation of the lever as well asthe speed of rotation. On the top rear ball portion of the lever aremounted a plurality of spaced ball holder depressions, 12, 13 and 14.

By placing the Ball B in a pre-selected depression the projectiontrajectory of the ball may be chosen. For instance, the ball holdingmeans 12 will provide ground balls, the ball holding depression 13 willprovide a higher trajectory and the ball holding depression 14 willprovide a still higher trajectory. Alternatively a trough in the levermay be provided for holding the ball in different positions.

On the front portion of the lever is mounted a resilient pad 15, whichmay be of tubular construction and adapted to slide over the cylindricalmember 5. The purpose of this is to provide a surface whereby the frontend of the lever may be hit downwardly with a bat 'or pole 16 in orderto cause the lever to rotate counterclockwise and project the ball.

The apparatus is adapted to be energized also by various motor means,not shown. For instance, a spring type motor could be attached to thelever so that the spring could be wound up and a trigger released toproject the ball.

By adjusting the brake shoe 10 and choosing the proper ball holdingdepression the trajectory and the speed of the ball can be chosen for aconstant applied force. The apparatus will repeat the trajectory untilit is re-adjusted.

FIG. 3 shows a modification wherein the lever 20 has a plurality ofspaced mounting sockets 21, 22, one of which is mounted on axle 23.Lever 20 has only one ball holding position. The trajectory is chosen bychoosing the socket to be mounted on the axle. The ball end of lever 20rests on frame member 24. in this modification the lever falls off theaxle on impact and must be replaced for each shot.

I claim:

1. Ball batting means comprising,

a mounting base,

a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said base,

- a ball holding means mounted adjacent one end of said lever forpositioning a ball in a plurality of positions on the lever,

a braking surface mounted on said base,

an adjustable brake shoe means mounted on said one end of said lever forfrictionally engaging the braking surface over a substantial portion ofthe braking surface,

said lever being adapted to be rotated quickly to catapult a ballmounted on said lever,

a resilient pad surface on the end opposite said one end of said leverfor receiving blows from a bat.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said ball holding means includesdepressions adjacent the top rear portion of said lever to provide aplurality of trajectories for a ball.

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 having means to adjust the trajectory of aball comprising a plurality of spaced sockets mounted along the lengthof said ball holding means said lever.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1 having vertically and horizontally adustablemeans to adjust said mounting member.

1. Ball batting means comprising, a mounting base, a lever pivotallymounted intermediate its ends on said base, a ball holding means mountedadjacent one end of said lever for positioning a ball in a plurality ofpositions on the lever, a braking surface mounted on said base, anadjustable brake shoe means mounted on said one end of said lever forfrictionally engaging the braking surface over a substantial portion ofthe braking surface, said lever being adapted to be rotated quickly tocatapult a ball mounted on said lever, a resilient pad surface on theend opposite said one end of said lever for receiving blows from a bat.2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said ball holding means includesdepressions adjacent the top rear portion of said lever to provide aplurality of trajectories for a ball.
 3. Apparatus as in claim 1 havingmeans to adjust the trajectory of a ball comprising a plurality ofspaced sockets mounted along the length of said ball holding means saidlever.
 4. Apparatus as in claim 1 having vertically and horizontallyadustable means to adjust said mounting member.